Employment  > Policies and Procedures

Maternity Leave

Ordinary maternity leave entitlement is currently 26 weeks and employees are entitled to Maternity Pay (SMP) during this 26 week period providing they have 6 months’ continuous service by the 15th week before their baby is due. The rate is 90% of normal weekly earnings for the first 6 weeks and £108.85 per week after that.
Additional maternity leave of up to a further 26 weeks is now an entitlement for employees with 6 months’ continuous service by the 15th week before their baby is due. This gives a maximum maternity leave period of 1 year.

Revised laws come into force on 1st April 2007.

Paternity Leave

There is now a right for fathers of children to take 2 weeks paid leave at a rate of £108.85 per week. Employees must have 6 months’ service by the 15th week before the baby’s due date to qualify, and must take the leave in single blocks of 1 week within 56 days of the child’s birth.

Adoption Leave

As with Parental Leave, those with 6 months’ service by the date they are notified of a child being placed with them can take up to a maximum of 1 years leave. The statutory maximum paid leave has been set at the lesser of £108.85 per week or 90% of weekly earnings for the first 6 months.

Rights to Flexible and Part time working

Employees who are responsible for caring for a child who is under 6 years old ( or under 18 years old if the child is disabled) can apply to change their hours, times and location of work, providing they have 26 weeks continuous service as at the date of request.

When dealing with a request, employers must act accordingly to a strict timetable and above all must take the request seriously.

Employers must have a ‘clear business reason’ for rejecting the request, and must do so in writing.

Part-time workers are now entitled to the same basic rate of pay, sick pay and maternity pay, access to occupational pension schemes and training opportunities as comparable full-timers.
Employers must be able to demonstrate a strong business reason for refusing a female employee's request to change from a full time to a part time role after her return from maternity leave.

Employees are entitled to unpaid time off for domestic incidents relating to dependants, e.g. a spouse, child, parent, or someone in the household other than a lodger

Discrimination

Employees who believe they have been discriminated against because of their age, sex, race or disability are entitled to make a claim to an Employment Tribunal regardless of length of service.

In relation to sex discrimination, it is particularly important that employers do not indirectly discriminate, i.e. they must not apply a condition or requirement or operate a policy, procedure or practice, which has a substantially greater adverse impact on one of the sexes than on the other.

Disciplinary and Grievance Hearings

The ACAS code on disciplinary practice and procedures now gives employees the statutory right to be accompanied at disciplinary and grievance hearings, not only by a fellow employee, but by a trade union representative, regardless of whether or not the employer recognises that particular trade union.

Either of these representatives may take an active role in the meeting, including addressing those hearing the disciplinary complaint.

This right does not extend to answering questions put to the employee.

Employers must be aware of the statutory procedures in place to cover disciplinary and grievance procedures.

The Right to a National Minimum Wage

Workers aged 18-21are entitled to at least £4.45 per hour. Workers over 22 are entitled to at least £5.35 per hour, as at 1st October 2006.
The definition of a worker is wide and includes home workers, agency workers, part-timers and casuals.

References

There is no legal obligation for an employer to provide a reference, although employers must ensure that they do not discriminate on the basis of sex, race or disability in not doing so.

If an employer does give a reference, he has a duty to take reasonable care not to give misleading information, whether as a result of the unfairly selective provision of information, or inclusion of facts and opinions in such a manner as to give a false or mistaken inference.

If an employer gives an inaccurate reference and as a result a job offer is withdrawn, the employee can seek compensation.

Protection from the consequences of Whistle blowing

Workers are protected from unfair dismissal or victimisation for blowing the whistle on wrongdoing at work.

The Act covers cases where the worker reasonably believes that one of the following has or will occur: a criminal offence; failure to comply with legal obligations; miscarriage of justice; danger regarding a health and safety issue; an environmental risk; a concealment of any of the above.
Employers should have a (whistle-blowing) policy to encourage workers to disclose any concerns to them so that the matter can be resolved internally if possible. Such a policy should also allow the employer to take action against workers who go public when it is unreasonable for them to do so.

Rights under the Working Time Regulations

The Regulations provide for a maximum working week of 48 hours, unless one of the exceptions applies, or the employee has signed a form to say that he wishes to opt out of the 48 hour working week.

The Regulations also provide for a minimum of 11 hours rest per day, a 20 minute break where there are more than 6 hours of continuous working, and a minimum rest period of 1 day per week.

In addition the Regulations provide for a minimum of 4 weeks paid holiday per annum.

Rights under the Data Protection Act

Following a written request, employees have the right to be told whether data about them is being processed.

Employers have 40 days to respond to such a written request.

Confidential references, management forecasts and records relating to future pay negotiations and salary packages are specifically excluded from the data the employer is required to provide to the employee.

Trade Union Recognition

Trade Union recognition will be awarded automatically, if a majority membership can be demonstrated. Otherwise, where there is 40% support in the bargaining unit, and a majority vote in a secret ballot, a trade union will be awarded recognition by the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC).